Although they did make enquiries about Diame's availability, the Eagles didn't make a bid in January but were apparently waiting until the close season, with Alan Pardew a big admirer of the midfielder.

Diame, who joined the Tigers from West Ham in 2014, is now in the last 18 months of his contract.

Former Town keeper Alex Smithies has opened up about his penalty saving technique.

Goalkeeper Alex Smithies who recently joined QPR from Huddersfield Town.

As a youth, the QPR stopper had a foolproof way of giving himself the advantage - by pointing in the same direction he was about to dive.

However, he found Championship strikers too savvy to fall for it and had to develop new methods for spot kick situations.

“And since, I’ve tried all sorts, but I’m not going to say what I do now.

“Everyone’s different; I’ve tried pointing in one direction; looking at videos; I went through a spell in the England youth games where I pointed left and dived left. They always wanted to beat me in the way I was going and I saved five in a row.”